Alumni-Where They Are Now
SAME Honors Black Engineer of the Year Award Alum
By USBE&IT
Jan 25, 2010, 15:18

The Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) has selected William A. Brown Sr., P.E., SAME Fellow, as the recipient of the SAME Academy of Fellows Golden Eagle Award for outstanding contributions to the engineering profession. The award will be presented at the SAME 2010 Academy of Fellows Golden Eagle Awards Dinner on March 19, 2010, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va. Brown won the 2000 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Professional Achievement in Government.

As executive vice president of PageSoutherlandPage, LLP, Brown is responsible for establishing strategic focus in the federal market. He acted as principal-in-charge of the site evaluation study for the next major museum to go on the National Mall— the $500 million National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Since Brown joined PageSoutherlandPage in 2003, the firm has moved from 255 to 144 on the Engineering News-Record list of top 500 engineering firms. PageSoutherlandPage is the Recipient of the Texas Society of Architects 2009 Architecture Firm Award.

Brown is active in the engineering field, where he encourages minorities to become engaged. He served for six years as chairman of the Howard University School of Divinity Board of Visitors and also has served six years as moderator for the HBCU Engineering Deans Roundtable, held yearly at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards STEM Conference in Baltimore, Md.

In 2002, he founded the African American Federal Executive Association Inc., and has served as national president ever since. For the past two years he has served as the SAME representative on the Department of State Overseas Building Operations Industry Advisory Panel.

As a former  Army Corps of Engineers deputy director of military programs, Brown directed one of the largest design and construction programs in the world—the annual $10 billion U.S. Army  Military Construction Program. Brown directed this program for six years, leading a wide variety of projects throughout the U.S. and 60 foreign nations.

Brown’s unique ability to unite diverse groups of people for a common goal was key to his selection to lead  a U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Russia, where he negotiated an agreement between the two countries for the design and construction of facilities to house weapons of mass destruction. Brown also was dispatched to Paris, where he negotiated an agreement between USACE and the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to provide design and construction support for UNESCO projects worldwide. In addition, he participated as a senior member of diplomatic missions to Nigeria and Hungary, and he outlined for the President of Afghanistan ways to rebuild his war-torn nation.

Brown’s numerous awards and citations include the Army Exceptional Civilian Service Award, the U.S. Army Silver DeFluery Medal and the Senior Executive Service Meritorious Presidential Rank Award. In 2006, Brown became the 51st person inducted in the USACE Gallery of Distinguished Civilians; he is the first African American to receive this honor.

Brown is married to Dr. Jacqueline F. Brown, former chief administrative officer for Prince George’s County, Md. They have three children: Whitney Erin Montague, an environmental engineer; Dr. William A. Brown Jr., M.D., a vascular surgeon and Army Reservist who recently served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan; and Maj. Wade Douglas Brown, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, who has served two tours in Iraq. In 2001, the family was honored as the “Hampton University Family of the Year.”

The Golden Eagle Awards dinner—a black-tie event honoring outstanding professionals in the engineering field—is open to all SAME members and invited guests.

For more information, visit www.same.org/GoldenEagle.